Science Olympiad - Scoring

Scoring

The winner of the competition is determined by each team's overall score. Each school is ranked in every event based on that event's rules. The team's overall score is then calculated by adding together the rank of the school in all events (e.g. 1st place receives 1 point, 2nd place 2 points, etc.). The team with the lowest overall score is declared the winner. However, it should be noted that some state competitions choose to score the competition by awarding more points per place (e.g. 13 points for 1st place, 12 points for 2nd place, etc.) and having the team with the most points being declared the winner.

There are several ways to break a tie (draw):

• One method for tie-breaking is based on medals where the team with more first place medals wins, if both teams have the same amount of first places, it moves to second place medals and so on. This is the method that the National Tournament uses.
• Before a competition, the event organizer decides on several events to be used as tie-breakers. If two teams get the same score overall, the team that rates highest in that one event will take the lead.
• A third way of tie-breaking is to use a team's score in trial/pilot events. The team with the best combined score in trial events would win the competition when this method is used.
• In some competitions, there also may questions added into the event,and they will be labeled tie-breaker. If needed, these questions can be used as tie breakers,although this type of tie-breaker is generally for only the event and not the end decision.